Rebecca Kaminsky Summer Serpas Irvine Valley College CADE 2016

Summer Serpas  Assistant Prof. of English  IVC’s Accelerated Program Developer/Guru/Hero  Teaching accelerated classes for 4 years  Course Coordinator/Faculty Trainer (F2013-SP2016)  Curriculum Director (“Habits”)  CAP Coach (SU2016) Rebecca Kaminsky  Assistant Prof. of English  Teaching accelerated classes for 3 years  Curriculum Director (“Success”)  Course Coordinator/Faculty Trainer (SU2016)

Traditional Sequence (since long ago) Writing 1: College-Level Writing (4 units--.5 unit lab optional) Writing 201: 3 units plus a.5 unit lab Writing 301: 3 units plus a.5 unit lab Reading 370: 3 units plus a.5 unit lab Accelerated Sequence (since Fall 2015) Writing 1: College Level Writing (4 units--.5 unit lab optional) WR 399 (Formerly EXP 389): A 5 unit, one-semester course plus a.5 unit lab Reading 370: 3 unit class plus a.5 lab Writing 1: College-Level Writing (4 units--.5 unit lab optional) ESL 201: 5 units plus a.5 unit lab ESL 301: 5 units plus a.5 unit lab ESL 370: 5 units ESL SEQUENCE (SINCE FALL 2015)

Writing 1 Transfer-Level Writing 4 units Optional.5 unit Writing Center Writing 201 One-Level-Below (Placement Test) 3 units.5 unit Writing Center co-requisite Writing 399 Two-Levels-Below (Open Access) 5 units.5 unit Writing Center co-requisite

Relevant, Thinking- Oriented Curriculum: Curriculum should engage students with issues that matter and provide thought-provoking, open-ended problems. Backwards Design: Instruction should be aligned with students’ educational pathways, with pre-college writing courses focused on teaching the same kinds of reading, writing, and thinking skills students will use in college-level writing.

Just-In-Time Remediation: Instructors should provide help for students when the need arises as they work through college-level reading and writing assignments. Low-Stakes, Collaborative Practice: Students should participate in in-class activities that give them practice with the most high priority skills and content needed for the later graded assignments. Support for Student’s Affective Needs: Instructors should help students through emotional or psychological barriers that block learning and have nothing to do with their cognitive ability Taken from “Toward a Vision of Accelerated Curriculum & Pedagogy: High Challenge, High Support Classrooms for Underprepared Students” by Katie Hern and Myra Snell

Pre-Reading Activities: In-class activities or discussions to activate the students' background knowledge on the topic. The teacher provides guidance regarding what to pay attention to, key terms that may be unfamiliar, and portions of the text that students may find challenging. Open Book Quiz: Students move from informal and oral discussions to explaining key ideas in their own writing. The quiz also provides incentive and accountability for completing the reading. Essay Writing Workshops: Students move from explaining discrete portions of the reading to integrating, synthesizing and building arguments. Students must articulate and support their own perspective while demonstrating a clear understanding of the readings. Students perform peer evaluations and self-evaluations while the teacher conducts one-on- one conferences to discuss preliminary drafts. Post-Reading Activities: In-class group activities for students to process, clarify, and engage with ideas from the readings. These practices include group discussions, debates, and games, such as “speed-dating” and poster presentations. Final Draft: On the day the students submit the essays, the teacher initiates just-in-time remediation activities, allowing students time to edit their essays and write self-reflections on their writing process. As the next cycle begins, the teacher uses the common rubric to evaluate the essays, using a high pass, pass, low pass, and no pass model. At-Home Reading Activities: Students complete guided practices to increase their awareness of strategies for approaching academic reading, reasoning, and writing. These include writing directed summaries, completing double-entry journals, and annotating text.

Pre-Reading Activities: In-class activities or discussions to activate the students' background knowledge on the topic. The teacher provides guidance regarding what to pay attention to, key terms that may be unfamiliar, and portions of the text that students may find challenging.

What are they? Methods of introducing material, topics, and readings to students to help them anticipate possible challenges, or to help them begin to think about the topics on their own prior to reading. Why should we use them? The preview activities help students: Reduce fear of difficult texts and topics Discover tools to navigate challenging texts Think about how the larger issues in the text might impact their lives

What are some activities that can be used?  Journaling  Videos  Group discussions  Discussion Questions  Quick “heads up”

At-Home Reading Activities: Students complete guided activities to increase their awareness of strategies for approaching academic reading, reasoning, and writing. These include writing directed summaries, completing double-entry journals, and annotating text.

What are they? Assignments that allow students to try out various active reading strategies to help them learn how to engage with the text. Why should we use them? The at-home reading activities help students: Process difficult reading assignments Gain exposure to different reading strategies Evaluate which reading strategies work for them personally and for different texts Find the “big picture” ideas in the text

1. Please read the section of “Brainology” assigned to you. 2. As you read, highlight one “golden line”–a passage that you found particularly important in the section. 3. Note the golden line on your worksheet and explain why you chose that passage.

 Evidence charts/double-sided notes  Guided annotations  Summary  Defining key terms  Answering a focus question  Finding Golden Lines  Outlining  Student choice

Post-Reading Activities: In-class group activities for students to process, clarify, and engage with ideas from the readings. These practices include group discussions, debates, and games, such as “speed-dating” and poster presentations.

Is there anyone who was unable to complete the reading?

What are they? In class, we should facilitate “low-stakes, collaborative practice” activities that help students process, clarify, and engage with the reading. Why should we use them? The in-class reading activities help students: Clarify confusion and model reading strategies Use their own knowledge and vocabulary to help them understand texts Provide peer-to-peer support and community-building in the classroom Make the invisible visible Reduce their fear of reading Find an incentive for completing the reading assignments Prepare to write better essays

1. Find the other people who were assigned the same number as you. 2. In your groups, each person should share the golden line he or she selected and why he or she chose it. 3. As a group, chose the one best golden line from your group. 4. Write the group’s golden line on your worksheet and explain why you chose that line.

 In class, we would have students go back to their original groups, which would include one person from each section, and share out the golden lines.  All group members would fill in the worksheet for each section, making additional notes as needed.  We would also encourage students to write down additional golden lines for each section, and explain how having more choices might benefit them when they get to the drafting stage.

Be sure to create activities that: make space for comprehension do not allow students to bypass the reading thereby creating accountability require participation from all students connect directly to the essay prompt thereby creating relevance ask students to work with different partners periodically to create additional community in the classroom

 Worksheets with focus questions  Graphic organizers  Poster sessions  Post-It note sessions  Debates  Speed Dating  Jigsaws  Think-Pair-Share

What is it? After reading all texts for an essay assignment, students take an “open book, open note, closed neighbor” (often take home) reading quiz. Why should we use it? The reading quiz helps students: bridge from reading to writing, acting as a prewriting activity practice explaining the big picture ideas from the text prepare for essay writing in a slightly higher (but still relatively low) stakes assignment, helping the instructor check for understanding early on in the writing process be accountable for the reading assignments Open Book Quiz: Students move from informal and oral discussions to explaining key ideas in their own writing. The quiz also provides incentive and accountability for completing the reading.

Essay Writing Workshops: Students move from explaining discrete portions of the reading to integrating, synthesizing and building arguments. Students must articulate and support their own perspective while demonstrating a clear understanding of the readings. Students perform peer evaluations and self-evaluations while the teacher conducts one-on-one conferences to discuss preliminary drafts.

Essay 1 Prompt: For this assignment, we have read about several traits and concepts that can influence how students perform in the classroom: grit, fixed and growth mindset, habits of mind, and how teachers affect learning. For this assignment, I would like you to choose two of these traits or concepts, explain it for your readers by using information from the text that explains that trait or concept, and discuss how this trait or concept has impacted your ability to be a successful student. Some things I’d like you to include:  Explain your chosen traits or concepts for readers who are not in this class and have not read the text. This means you’ll need to spend some time summarizing key ideas, defining any terms that might be unfamiliar, and choosing short quotations from the texts to help your reader get a sense of what the author is talking about.  Choose at least two specific incidents from your educational history to illustrate the impact of these traits or concepts on your success as a student. Try to make a connection to writing or reading in at least one of your examples. You should choose at least 1 extended example per trait or concept.  Please close by bringing me up to the present—How do you think you can use or develop these traits in this specific writing class? Is there anything you’d like me to know so that I can better support you and help you succeed? Is there anything you’re concerned about? Is there anything you feel excited about? To give me as full and detailed of a story as possible, shoot for at least three (3) full pages.

What are they? Prewriting, drafting, peer review, conferencing, self-evaluation, and revision. Why should we use them? The writing activities help students: Become familiar with the writing process required for college-level essays Practice skills in a low-stakes environment Reduce fear of the writing process and receiving feedback on their work Learn to evaluate and provide feedback to others

Writer’s Initials: ______ Row: _____ Score (1-7) Things Done Well Needs Improvement Writer’s Initials: ______ Directions: Review your notes on how to write a complete summary paragraph, and using the space below, write a summary paragraph of “Brainology” by Carol Dweck. __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ _______________________________

1. Go to page 15 in your packet for a scorecard. 2. Assume you have already reviewed what a summary is, and when to use one 3. With a partner, review two of your classmates’ summaries, and score them, based on the criteria discussed about summary writing, so the total points between the two is seven (i.e. one might score a 3 and the other a 4)

1. We would complete 5 rounds 2. Students with high scores (usually top two or three) read their summaries to the class, and the class discusses why those summary paragraphs earned the most points 3. Have students review their own summary paragraphs, what they learned, and the comments from their peers and have them revise the paragraphs 4. They may use these paragraphs in their essays, or simply use them for reference in the future

Final Draft: On the day the students submit the essays, the teacher initiates just-in-time remediation activities, allowing students time to edit their essays and write self-reflections on their writing process. As the next cycle begins, the teacher uses the common rubric to evaluate the essays, using a high pass, pass, low pass, and no pass model.

The students complete the essay reflection questions and turn in their final drafts.

What is it? Students bring in their final draft and complete a workshop focused on editing. The instructor circulates, providing just-in-time remediation to help students edit their essays. Why should we use it? The editing workshop helps students: focus on editing as the last step in the writing process realize why grammar and mechanics are important for reader understanding in a final draft get help tailored to their individual grammatical challenges see grammar/spelling/mechanics as part of the whole rather than separate in a vacuum

What is it? A series of metacognitive questions that help students reflect on the writing process as a whole and their individual process of writing. Why should we use it? The essay reflection helps students: think about how they completed their assignment determine their strengths and weaknesses in the writing and reading process establish reading and writing goals for themselves by looking both backward and forward Ps. This helps instructors better understand where student confusion took place, what was happening in the lives of students as they completed the unit, and how to plan activities for future assignments.

1. What did you find easy about this essay, and what did you find challenging? Explain. 2. What specific item did you try to improve upon from the last essay in this essay? Why did you focus on this item? Explain. 3. What one item do you believe you still need to work on? Why? 4. What did you learn about your process of writing by working on this assignment? Explain. 5. What did you learn about the writing process in general by working on this assignment? Explain. 6. What was the most important thing you learned about yourself while working on this essay? Explain. 7. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being too easy and 5 being too hard, how would you rate the difficulty of this writing project? Explain. 8. Do you have any questions about this assignment? Please do not include questions about grammar. 9. Is there anything else you would like me to know about this assignment, or about how class is going? 10. Please share with me anything you would like me to know about your writing experience.